This week we chat with Kusal Goonewardena, founder of sports medicine clinic Elite Akademy. A physiotherapist by profession, Goonewardena set up the clinic to provide the public with greater accessibility to top-level physiotherapy and sports medicine services.
ISB: What was the inspiration behind the founding of the Elite Akademy?
I was involved with Melbourne University Sports Medicine, heading up sports medicine for the 300+ athletes who compete at the Australian University Games and often working with Olympic-level athletes. This evolved to establishing our own sports medicine clinic, as there is a need for top-level physiotherapy/sports medicine services which are accessible. We want the public to be as demanding of their physios as elite athletes are. Hence our promise that if we can’t help you in three sessions or less, we’ll find someone who can!
ISB: What is the philosophy of your fixed pricing setup for physiotherapy and how well has it been received?
Many products from other industries are “packaged” well, but this concept is rarely seen in physiotherapy. We’ve developed several pricing packages to cater for people who are at different stages of recovery from pain and injury. Our patients like the certainty provided by fixed pricing, and so do the health insurance companies. Patients like having a start and finish date, knowing the direction of improvement, and exactly where they need to be.
ISB: You also provide physiotherapy students opportunities with the $1/minute sports & remedial massage service; how do strike a balance between revenue maximisation and providing those opportunities?
We take a long view: the person receiving massage may one day need physio – even if they won’t, it fits our vision of helping people be happy. At $1/minute, we can employ our physiotherapy students, provide them with a job in the profession, develop them professionally, with ultimate benefit for our clients. Talented physio students will eventually join the team as physiotherapists and as we create a stronger, larger base of qualified, experienced physiotherapists we will all be better off. It’s a win-win.
ISB: In addition, there’s the fitness app Kinrgize; what makes it different from other fitness apps in the market?
Kinrgize provides access to fitness programs and tracking designed by professionals, backed by research and clinical work. Users “see” how active they have been via a simple ranking of daily activity levels. It rewards users so the more you use the app, and the better you are, the more access to discounted products you receive through corporate health partners.
ISB: You’ve managed to retain a loyal, long-serving workforce; how do you do so in an industry notorious for high staff turnover?
We do three things really well – work hard, make a difference and have fun. We create a culture of self-improvement and love seeing our people succeed. Everything we do has to help the individual, help push them outside their comfort zone to improve and help Elite Akademy. Transparency and honesty are strong values. I open our books to the team. The senior team are part of the decision-making process to make the business grow.
ISB: What advice can you give to those who may have a “game-changing” business idea?
They should ask themselves:
- How many millions/billions of people could it help? (who is your customer?)
- Why is it different?
- Who really cares why it’s different?
- Has it been tested (on a smaller population)?
- What mistakes have you made coming up with this idea?
- Where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
These answers will provide a blueprint of your ideal customer, how to access them, how to sell to them and the pathway to take within the next six to 36 months.
